S05 



The population of the poor-law districts of Halifax and 

 Huddersfield is 2 1 653 1 5, while that of Leeds and Sheffield 

 is 253,743 ; and by adding the district of Wakefield, with 

 a population of 45,648, the population of Halifax, Hudders- 

 field, and Wakefield amounts to 261,963, or 8,220 more 

 persons than in Leeds and Sheffield ; and consequently the 

 comparison is greatly to the disadvantage of Halifax and 

 Huddersfield, not only by this additional number of popula- 

 tion, but its being added from the rather more unhealthy 

 district of Wakefield. 



The number of deaths in Leeds and Sheffield during the 

 years 1841, 1840, 1839, and 1838, were 27,299; in Hud- 

 dersfield and Halifax during the same years they were 

 17,331. Making allowance for the difference of population 

 between the places, 1,743 more deaths occur annually in 

 Leeds and Sheffield. Or by adding Wakefield, which makes 

 8,220 more people, there remain 1,398 more deaths; i. e, 

 there are more deaths by 1,398 in Leeds and Sheffield than 

 in Halifax, Huddersfield, and Wakefield, with 8,220 additional 

 population. 



Let us now examine by what particular diseases this extra 

 mortality in Leeds and Sheffield is occasioned. The diseases 

 of childhood claim the first attention. In Sheffield and 

 Leeds very nearly one-half of the deaths are of children 

 before the age of five years — the numbers in 1841 being 

 3,151 out of 6,582 deaths; in 1840, 3,306 out of 6,898 

 deaths. Again, in these towns one-half of those who die 

 under five years do not attain the age of one year, the 

 numbers being in 1841, 1,691 out of 3,151, (or 17 to 32 

 nearly); and in 1840, 1,736 to 3,306. In Halifax, Hud- 

 dersfield, and Wakefield the number of deaths under five 

 years of age are a little, but not very much, fewer in pro- 

 portion, being in 1841, 2,312 out of 5,282 deaths, (23 to 

 53); and in 1840, 2,621 to 5,868 deaths, (26 to 58), and 



